1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to coldness generating method and apparatus including a regenerating tank and capable of being used as an air conditioning apparatus, and more particularly, to a coldness generating method apparatus for generating and regenerating a coldness lower than the freezing point.
2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
An absorption type refrigerator capable of being used as an air conditioning apparatus generally employs water as the refrigerant thereof. Therefore, it can supply coldness of unsatisfactory level of 5.degree. to 7.degree. C. As a result, a large sized regenerating tank is necessary to regenerate the thus-generated coldness in the form of cold water.
On the other hand, a refrigerator equipped with a compression type heat pump such as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Unexamined No. 61-62774, can generate coldness of a level below the freezing point. Therefore, the thus-generated coldness can be regenerated in the form of ice. As a result, the capacity of the regenerating tank thereof can be reduced with respect to that of the above-described absorption type refrigerator.
It is difficult, in terms of practical use, for the compression type heat pump to employ energy other than electricity for driving the pump. Furthermore, electrical is energy of very costly and a heat pump of a large capacity encounters critical problems of noise and vibrations.
On the other hand, the absorption type refrigerator exhibits a reduced cost with respect to the required electrically operated structure since the absorption type refrigerator is capable of employing, as an energy source, heavy oil, LPG, waste heat, solar heat, or the like. However, the conventional absorption type refrigerator encounters a problem in that its constructional cost cannot be reduced.